Gay Marriage Activist Comes Out About Truth Behind Equality Movement

By Matthew Milhon

In a recent panel discussion at the Sydney Writers Festival the question was raised, "Why Get Married When You Could Be Happy?" Masha Gessen, a member of the panel and gay rights activist and author, laid out in stark detail her understanding of the goals of the "marriage equality" movement. Gessen says:

"It's a no-brainer that homosexuals should have the right to marry, but I also think equally that it's a no-brainer that the institution of marriage should not exist. Fighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we are going to do with marriage when we get there ? because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change, and that is a lie.

The institution of marriage is going to change, and it should change. And again, I don't think it should exist. And I don't like taking part in creating fictions about my life. That's sort of not what I had in mind when I came out thirty years ago.

I have three kids who have five parents, more or less, and I don't see why they shouldn't have five parents legally? I met my new partner, and she had just had a baby, and that baby's biological father is my brother, and my daughter's biological father is a man who lives in Russia, and my adopted son also considers him his father. So the five parents break down into two groups of three? And really, I would like to live in a legal system that is capable of reflecting that reality, and I don't think that's compatible with the institution of marriage."

Gessen's honesty is as refreshing as it is unsettling, but don't expect sincerity of this level again anytime soon. Among friends we tend to be a little more frank than when we are trying to win others over to our cause, especially if our front appeals to a majority of Americans.

Public opinion has shifted so that it is a "no-brainer" that homosexual 'marriage' should be legal and those who oppose such a union don't get a say because they are bigots. It is a "no-brainer", you don't even have to think about it, and in fact it is better that you don't, because marriage is changing, it is changing so that it "is capable of reflecting reality." But that, Ms. Gessen, is the lie.

The marriage equality movement does not want to change the law to reflect reality; it wants to change the law so that it can change reality. Laws matter, they are, or rather should be, constructed to be in accord with Truth. But if enough people buy into the argument that marriage is about equality what does it matter if the measure of 'equality' is changed mid-game? Who is going to notice anyway except all of those bigots?